Time After Time
by sophie476
Summary: Following the finale , Betty and Daniel enter a new phase in their lives and their relationship. How will they manage the transition ahead , and what will the future hold for them ?
1. Daniel Musings

**DISCLAIMER : I own nothing.**

As he watched her saunter down the steps , Daniel could feel himself relax if only for a second. The moment she turned back to look at him , his body seized up again. Funny how things could change so quickly... For the last four years , she had been the one person he could always be himself around. He'd never felt nervous or awkward around her. On the contrary , for some strange reason , he'd never felt better or more in control than when Betty was by his side. Sure , she had acted as a kind of mother-hen , or guardian angel , always there to fix things for him , to offer him advice or reprimand him when he was acting like an idiot. She'd had her work cut out for her , especially in the beginning , seeing as how he hadn't been a very good person when they'd first met. But she'd changed all that. She'd changed him. He didn't know when or how it had happened , but somewhere along the way she'd become a part of him. He couldn't imagine what his life would have been like if fate hadn't brought her to him. Not wanting to dwell on that horrible thought , he took a deep , cleansing breath , turned and started back toward his hotel.

Two months ago , he had still been in denial. A deep , dark denial that nothing but the threat of losing her could have snapped him out of. Well , that and his mother... He chuckled now , as he thought about the way Claire had cut through the bull , and made him face what he should have known all along... That he was in love with his best friend. Completely and totally in love with the girl who had come storming through his life in a Guadalajara poncho and turned it upside down. Shaking his head as if to put his thoughts back in place , he turned up his collar against the cold and crossed the street to walk along the Thames. Never in his wildest dreams would he have thought that love would play such a huge part in his life and that he'd leave everything and everyone behind to go chasing after it.

Two months he'd been without her. Two long , torturous , interminable months where he'd felt as if his heart had been ripped out of his chest. The first week without her he'd hardly been able to breathe. It didn't help that he had felt like a complete ass for not saying goodbye to her. He hadn't been able to face it. To face the fact that she wouldn't be in his life anymore. It was ironic. Just as he had discovered the intensity of his feelings for her , she had disappeared. Well , not exactly. She had tried to call him several times , leaving messages on his phone that he would delete without even listening to them , because it hurt too much to hear the pain in her voice. It hurt to know that he had caused it. He'd hardly been able to function until he'd had the epiphany in his office. It had hit him like a ton of bricks. Once his decision had been made , everything had seemed to fall into place , and he'd been able to very quickly put his affairs in order before heading to London. It had been so easy , once his mind had been made up , that he had taken it as a sign that he was doing the right thing.

Now though , after actually seeing her , and talking to her , he wasn't so sure anymore. He'd meant to go easy on her , to play it cool and act as if he'd merely bumped into her by coincidence. But once he'd set eyes on her , and touched her , his plan had been shot to hell. She'd looked so fresh and beautiful walking toward him , chatting on the phone with that smile on her face... And when he'd casually mentioned dinner , he'd seen the knowing look on her face. But how much did she understand ? How much did she think she knew ? Up until that very moment , he hadn't really given a thought as to how she might feel about him , because he wasn't sure he wanted to hear the answer. He knew she loved him , that he was as important to her as she was to him. But did she want what he wanted ? Was she ready to change their relationship like that ? Would she , in true Betty style , listen to what he had to tell her , and then let him down gently ? God! He would have to drop from the face of the earth if that happened !

Well , he'd just have to sweat it out until dinner , and hope for the best.


	2. Betty Musings

Her heart was beating wildly as she started down the steps. She tried to resist turning back and stealing a last glance at him , but she couldn't. Nor could she help the smile from forming on her lips as she did so. He looked so handsome ! The little butterflies in her stomach were doing somersaults as she hurried toward her office building. She felt as if she was in the middle of a dream. She had missed Daniel so much these last months... Much more than she would have thought possible. Even as busy as she was with her new job and getting settled in a new place , her mind would always wander to him , and what was he doing , how he was feeling. She blamed Claire for that. Had Claire not planted the seeds of doubt in her mind , she would have been perfectly fine , and enjoying her new life without any backward thoughts... Well , no , that wasn't really true. To be fair , Claire had merely brought out something that Betty's subconscious had been blocking for so long. She'd known , way in the back of her mind that her relationship with Daniel was special. Yet , she'd never allowed herself to think that it could be anything more than a deep friendship.

He had never thought about her that way. And if she was honest with herself , she could say the same. They'd been through a lot together , and they had seen the best and the worst in each other , in ways that most couples never would. There had been a deep bond between them almost from the start. She couldn't remember her life before Daniel. How had that happened ? How had he come to be such an important part of her ? She had put him before friends and family more times than she could remember , and for the life of her , she could find nothing wrong with that. It wasn't just that he had been her boss. Their relationship had never been as simple and basic as that. Somehow , he had become the most important person in her life , and even if she had been blind to that fact before , upon her move to England , she hadn't been able to deny it anymore.

She'd been happy enough without him these last few months. But her happiness hadn't been complete. It had been marred by his absence , his silence. That had been the hardest part. They'd had fights and arguments before , but they would always manage to patch things up quickly. His sudden disappearance from her life in the last few days she had spent in New-York had hurt her deeply. She had almost postponed her move to London , until she could talk to him. It was only when she remembered Claire's words that she thought she could make any kind of sense of his behavior. She had thought of little else since. Was it possible that Daniel was acting this way because he loved her ? Was it possible that there was more between them than either of them were ready to admit ? Or was Claire off the wagon again and spouting off about things that made no sense at all ?

As Betty greeted the security guard in the lobby of Dunn Publications , her mind was still reeling from her earlier meeting. Stepping into the elevator , she leaned against the back wall , and tried to make sense of her confusion. Surely Daniel's decision to come to London couldn't be a coincidence. When he'd asked her to dinner , she thought he'd sounded unsure , almost hesitant , which wasn't like Daniel at all. Hadn't they had dinner together a thousand times before ? But why then , did this feel so different ? Why had they been so awkward with each other ? Surely she hadn't imagined the flirty vibe that had flowed between them ?

Putting a hand to her stomach in an effort to calm the knots that had suddenly formed there , Betty hurriedly shot out of the lift and made her way to her office , dropping down on the nearest chair available. Was she ready for this ? The thought of entering into a relationship with Daniel was a little strange to her , but did not feel as weird or as ridiculous as she thought it would. In fact , the more she thought about it , the more it seemed that it had always been inevitable. She had been too shocked at seeing him earlier to really think about it , but now , she realized that he was so much more to her than the mere friend she had always thought him to be. Did he feel the same , or had she been so happy at seeing him after so long that she had imagined the intensity between them ? Aargh ! How was she going to make it through the day ?


End file.
